The producers of Ellen DeGeneres’ Show are accused of fostering an environment filled with racism, fear, and intimidation by the former employees of the US talk show. 

According to BuzzFeed News, one current employee of the daytime series and ten individuals who used to work there have reported some incidents including being fired for visiting two family funerals, and the producers had even joked that two black employees look similar and this may cause confusion for them.

One former employee says, once a show writer had told the black employee that they only know the names of the white people who work here. They were also forced to raise money for medical costs on a GoFundMe campaign.

Many employees are said to work for extra hours and in return, they are rewarded with aggression, but still, nobody can do anything because of the show’s environment which dominated by fear, many of the accuser’s claims. A source said they feel that whoever gets to work with Ellen DeGeneres feels lucky to be there and if someone has a problem, the person should leave. They will hire someone else because everybody wants to work here.

There are no direct blames put on DeGeneres herself for the workplace environment. But a former employee said, “If she wants to have her own show and have her name on the show title, she needs to be more involved to see what’s going on. I think the executive producers surround her and tell her, ‘Things are going great, everybody’s happy,’ and she just believes that, but it’s her responsibility to go beyond that.”

While talking to BuzzFeed, Ed Glavin, Mary Connelly, and Andy Lassner, the producers of The Ellen Show said, Their show has completed nearly two decades and had 3,000 episodes, and employing over 1000 staff members, and they have always tried to maintain an open, safe, and inclusive work environment. 

They feel really heartbroken and apologize to those black people in their production family as they faced such a negative experience. It’s not who they are and not who they strive to be, and not the mission Ellen has set for them.